Saturday, April 28, 2018

Book Review - Anthem

The philosophies presented by this book are natural expressions of the author's personal struggles in Russia and her opposition to Communism. But why might this novel be finding its way back onto school desks in America in the 21st century? Without getting too political, I can see a couple of reasons.

First, as I mentioned above there's been a recent growth in the popularity of dystopian fiction. Kids are latching onto this genre and devouring it. Schools can attempt to tap into this popularity by prescribing dystopian literature as part of the curriculum. But the schools will likely want to steer clear of work that is too violent or racy. As a result, we find a book like Anthem that contains almost no violence or anything else to push it beyond a "PG" rating.

Secondly, and I think this speaks somewhat to the popularity of dystopian novels now generally, people are more and more dissatisfied with the state of things and are seeking ways to analyze and overcome the problems they see within society. Studying this and other dystopian novels is a way to have a "safe" conversation about a fictional society and then to ponder the potential relation to the real world and our out thoughts and ideals.

Another thought occurred to me while of strong familiarity. As I read, I kept finding myself thinking of other novels, most particularly The Giver by Lois Lowry. Knowing that The Giver frequently shows up as school reading, I could see lesson plans reading both novels and then writing papers or doing presentations comparing and contrasting the two novels or perhaps writing their own short story dystopia.

Curious as to if Anthem had influenced The Giver, I did a few searches and found this post from Lois Lowry speaking in response to claims of similarities (or outright plagiarism) that she sometimes receives. As I've often pointed out to people, there are few stories/movies/etc. that I would call 100% original. Everything has similarities somewhere. And when you look within very specific genres you will likely find even more similarities. In my mind, these similarities don't suggest plagiarism but rather that two (or more) individuals had similar ideas that they presented in similar ways. Sometimes the timing and the similarities are uncanny (I remember discussions when the movies "A Bug's Life" and "Antz" were released so closely together...while high level ideas had similarities, there were plenty of differences). In cases where an author has experienced a previous work, there are sometimes even more similarities. I think an author should be aware of this but if the author has an idea they want to share in their own way, they should do so. That's my long-winded way of saying that you shouldn't shout " plagiarism" unless an author is blatantly and obviously copying something without paying homage or presenting their own ideas and concepts.

Overall, I found Anthem to be a thoughtful read. The story and characters were naturally flat but the ideas and concepts were interesting even if the author really beat you over the head with them. As to the relevance of this story in our modern era of personal freedoms, there is still plenty of space for improvement even in the most open societies. As a piece of literature and philosophy, we can learn from Anthem and use it to inspire conversations moving forward. While it's certainly not the most eloquent or profound piece of writing, it is a worthwhile read and gives good food for thought.

3 out of 5 stars

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Drug War (2012)

Link: Drug War

Summary: An illegal drug-manufacturer is caught and tries to avoid the death penalty by aiding police in a high-stakes drug deal sting operation.  But is he really helping the police?  Or is he only working to subtly sabotage the entire operation and gain his freedom?

Thoughts: Fast-paced and engaging film.  Perhaps a little too fast-paced, as I found myself rather confused as to what was going on in the first half hour.  Part of that is probably due having to read subtitles and not being used to distinguishing Asian faces very well.  (As racist as it may seem to say “they all look the same!”, it’s true; by the end of the film it’s easy, but it’s always a bit of a challenge at the beginning when there are more than a few characters.)  Once I had a good handle on what was going on, I very much enjoyed all the plot twists, and the high-tense climactic Scorsese-worthy (or maybe milder-Tarantino-worthy) ending was very satisfying.  Overall, I found this to be a very fun action flick.


Yoga treatment for Atherosclerotic Obstructions

A research publication of the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN) reveals that Naturopathy and yoga have been proven to be beneficial in reversing Atherosclerotic Obstructions in patients suffering from Coronary Artery Diseases (CAD).

There is tremendous increase in the number of people suffering from CAD, the obvious reason being bad and unhealthy lifestyles. Various other factors like anxiety, tension, stress, junk food, sedentary lifestyle clubbed with lack of exercise also adds up to the increase in the number of CAD patients.

Yoga and Naturopathy are considered to be simple and effective therapies which do not involve usage of drugs for treatment. It has also been found that yoga soothes Atherosclerotic Plaque, thereby decreasing the chances of undergoing an Angioplasty or a Coronary Bypass Surgery.

A study was conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) and Adhyatma Sadhna Kendra on 42 patients (men) suffering from CAD in the age group of 32 to 72 years. They were divided into two groups of 21 patients each with similar characteristics. One group was given a lifestyle involving Yoga, and the other group was given the regular medical therapy. The group that received yoga intervention showed remarkable improvement in the symptoms of angina, in comparison to the other group which actually showed an overall deterioration. In addition, the group with yoga therapy was in a better psychological status, their cholesterol levels and body weights decreased, while the other group did not show any significant changes in these lines. Their coronary angiographies which were taken after a year showed regression among yoga group patients, while it showed progression of Coronary Stenosis in the group that received medications. Hence the need for coronary angioplasty and bypass surgery was considerably reduced in the yoga group.

On the whole, the study was concluded with the belief that yoga had a favorable impact on angina, lowering the cholesterol levels and body weight, and that yogic intervention can be given to patients even in advanced stage of CAD to reduce the symptoms significantly. The kind of yogic interventions that were given included Pranayama, Asanas, Kayotsarg (for relaxation), stress management, Anupreksha and Anurat (moral principles for leading a better life), combined with a vegetarian diet which was low in fat and high in fibre.


Barron Gorge and Barron Falls

Image Credit: Leo Casey

Eungella National Park

Set in the mountains, around 80 kilometres west of Mackay, Eungella National Park is one of Queensland’s most ecologically diverse parks. It’s full of subtropical and tropical rainforests and is a wilderness wonderland to explore.

Bushwalking is fantastic at Eungella with more than 20 kilometres of stunning, rugged walking tracks that lead from hidden waterfall to scenic lookout. Enjoy a bush picnic under the boughs of huge and ancient trees or go spotlighting to spy gently on the range of native wildlife and forest creatures like the famous Platypus.

Retreat to the cool Cairns rainforest

There are places where trails fade away through cool misty rainforest. They lead through lush undergrowth and soaring canopies.

Glimpses of wildlife and all manner of birds can be seen and heard through the trees, echoing loudly over the faint but constant buzz of life. Hidden waterfalls and dramatic lookouts await those who tread these paths.


Tracking Production from Seed to Drum

From the seed in the ground to the finished drum of botanical extract, Draco’s ingredients follow a strict paper trail to ensure quality, safety and purity.

Traceability is a risk-management tool employed at Draco, which allows food business operators or authorities to withdraw or recall products which have been identified as unsafe. It is a cornerstone of food safety policy at Draco and is routinely implemented alongside proper testing and documentation to ensure that no unsafe products escape scrutiny and sicken consumers.

Food safety has been a growing concern all over the world throughout the last couple decades. Outbreaks of disease in animals that could be transmitted to humans, or the presence of chemicals above acceptable limits in feed and food, can threaten both the quality and safety of products. This has been especially true as globalization and world trade have increased the intercontinental transport of goods.  That which once took months or weeks to reach its destination, now only takes a day or two from where it is produced to where it is utilized – in distant places all over the globe. This has benefited the consumer with reduced prices from increased competition, and a wider variety to choose from.

200-traceabilityHowever, along with these benefits has come increased risk of contamination just due to the enormous volumes being shipped and reduced ability to inspect and track all shipments and imports.  As a result Draco has established an enhanced traceability program, while continuously improving overall standards of our quality assurance programs.  Improved comprehensive product testing of food, dietary supplements, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic products is necessary to make sure no adulterants, microbial contaminants, or toxins remain undetected due to the enormous number that can be found. These toxins include heavy metals, fungal mycotoxins, pesticides, herbicides, industrial contaminants, allergens, radiolytic byproducts from irradiation, and radioactive materials.

It is vital for manufacturers to know which types of contaminants have the greatest probability of contaminating a specific type of product. This is determined by where the product is manufactured, by the nature and source of inputs, the detailed manufacturing process, and the shipping/distribution points for what types of contaminants have the potential to be accidentally or intentionally introduced into a product.  This also brings up the importance of security for product and shipping facilities, since industrial sabotage and terrorist activity may also be a concern.

Finally another important area to ensure food safety is to improve sustainability of production for various foods and herbal plant sources. When the supply of an agricultural raw material cannot keep up with demand, or the production is threatened by adverse weather and climate changes, this increases the risk of adulteration to make up for shortfalls or substandard product of questionable quality may be used. Helping farmers understand the issues of soil conservation, crop rotation, integrated pesticide management, and organic crop production, can help ensure production sustainability and improved quality of supply.


Read the Bible

Psalms 11

For the director of music. Of David.

1 In the Lord I take refuge.
     How then can you say to me:
     "Flee like a bird to your mountain.
2 For look, the wicked bend their bows;
     they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
     at the upright in heart.
3 When the foundations are being destroyed,
     what can the righteous do(2)?"

4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
     the Lord is on his heavenly throne.
He observes the sons of men;
     his eyes examine them.
5 The Lord examines the righteous,
     but the wicked(3) and those who love violence
     his soul hates.
6 On the wicked he will rain
     fiery coals and burning sulfur;
     a scorching wind will be their lot.

7 For the LORD is righteous,
     he loves justice;
     upright men will see his face.


Critical Pedagogy and Disney

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What animals can teach us about inclusive pedagogy

Wildlife & inclusive pedagogy. How do these words correlate? For some, the relationship may be unclear. But for someone like me who studies animals, the animal kingdom can teach us (humans) a thing or two about inclusive pedagogy. But first, what is inclusive pedagogy? According to Georgetown University “Inclusive pedagogy is a method of teaching in which instructors and classmates work together to create a supportive environment that gives each student equal access to learning. In these courses, the content takes into account the range of perspectives in the class, and is delivered in a way that strives to overcome barriers to access that students might have. Inclusive classrooms work to ensure that both teacher and student participation promote thoughtfulness and mutual respect” ( In other words, inclusive pedagogy is simply making sure that students with different backgrounds, learning styles, perspectives, and experiences all receive an education that works for them (i.e., there is no “one size fits all” in education).

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While animals most likely do not consciously think about inclusive pedagogy or teaching in general, some animals raise and teach not only their own young but the young of others as well. These animals are inclusive. It does not matter to them that some of their pupils/babies/friends/choose whatever word you want, look different, sound different, smell different, act differently, etc. All that matters is that these animals are put in the care-for and teaching role – and they embrace it. Stories about an animal of one species befriending, taking care of, and “teaching” an animal of a different species are relatively commonplace. Of course there are stories that are twisted and misconstrued to pull at heart-strings (e.g., the lioness and the antelope), so it is important to take this all with a grain of salt, but countless examples of true mutual relationships between species exist. For example, there is the dog who is best friends with a duckling and helps teach the duckling to swim and the cat that adopts a baby squirrel that fell out of a tree and teaches the baby squirrel to purr ( I know – my point here may be a bit of a stretch, but I kept thinking about this all weekend and so had to get some of these thoughts out!

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Now, I realize many will argue that these examples of animals taking care of other animals is not teaching and is driven solely by some maternal or paternal instinct. And part of me agrees with that. But, another part of me has observed animals enough to know that they have empathy and compassion towards others and that they communicate in ways that are often too subtle for us to notice. I have watched my dogs teach my puppy how to do certain things (same species example, I know). However, it really doesn’t matter why animals will raise and teach other animals. It only matters that they do (and that it is really cute!)

Mimicry … Crime or Flattery?

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Assessing Assessments: How We Discourage Learning by Trampling Imagination

We are assessed everyday of our lives, whether we realize it or not, on pretty much everything we do. Obviously, we are assessed in school on how well we can remember what is taught to us and are given a grade that reflects the teacher’s opinion of our performances. We are assessed when playing sports based on how well we run, throw, shoot a basket, etc and are assessed by either making the team or not and then by either starting or bench-warming. Outside of these more obvious examples of being assessed, we are assessed based on what we wear, how we look, what car we drive, what food we buy, etc. And, sadly, I admit that I am guilty of assessing people (typically subconsciously) on all of these accounts. I think it is probably pretty fair to say that all of us do this, unintentionally. For example, when I go grocery shopping, if I see someone with a cart full of soda, cookies, chips, etc with no fresh fruit and veggies, I typically think that this person is really unhealthy and/or poorly informed on nutritional guidelines (even though they could just being buying a bunch of food for their Super Bowl party, and that particular shopping cart is not at all indicative of their overall eating habits). This is a perfect example of why grading students on everything is not ideal. That person at the store would have received an “F” in Health Ed based on that day’s shopping cart … but maybe overall, he/she/they would get an “A+. Grades are snapshots … not the big picture.

Assessment is a part of life, whether we like it or not. But, there are so many approaches we can take towards assessing others. In regards to our education system, grades are king, despite the evidence showing that grading students reduces their interest in what is being taught and encourages students to take the path of least resistance in order to get good grades (Alfie Kohn, “The Case Against Grades”). Kohn discusses how some schools have found success in replacing letter/number grades with “narrative assessments” or to have students assign themselves grades and then have the teacher and student discuss the reasons behind this assessment. The teacher, of course, has the final say – but I like that this enables kids to think critically about how they perform and gives them a voice. However, this seems like it would be a huge amount of work for the teachers – and therefore, likely not possible in large college classes. That said, this form of assessment is commonly used in “the real world” through our annual reviews where we self-assess, get assessed, and discuss with our superiors. Since a major point of going to school is preparation for “the real world,” shouldn’t we assess students in a way that directly translates to how they will be assessed later in life? Giving grades on everything would be the equivalent to my advisor micromanaging me every day and critiquing everything I do constantly (rather than look at the bigger picture of my strengths, weaknesses, etc). Our assessment should be part of our learning adventure – not an evaluation of how we “perform” every step along the way. If I were to run a marathon, I might trip at mile 15 but still get a PR.

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In my opinion, the biggest problem with grades is that it can discourage imagination, creativity, and risk-taking. Students are encouraged to follow the path of least resistance, which minimizes the creation of novel ideas. Liu & Noppe-Brandon (in Imagination First) discuss how Einstein is the picture of intelligence not because he was necessarily significantly smarter than the average person (though he very well may have been), but because he was not afraid to imagine, create, and fail. Failure is such an important learning tool, but in school we are taught that failing is bad, and it means we aren’t learning and succeeding. Most people will admit that they learn more from their failures than their successes, so why do we make “failure” such a bad thing? At the end of the day, qualitative feedback is much more beneficial than a letter or numeric grade. When grades are assigned, even if teachers provide qualitative feedback, most students ignore the feedback if they are happy with the letter/number grade (or if they just don’t care). Students would learn more if they were actually asked to read and absorb the feedback and make the corrections.

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At the end of the day, assessments will never go away. And I don’t think that they should. Being assessed encourages us to grow. It is HOW we are assessed that matters.

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Why are we taught to be sheep?

Although I study animals, I do not study domesticated animals. Despite this, I know that sheep like to remain in flocks (or is it herds?), as they take the evolutionary approach of survival based upon the power of numbers. They follow each other around and do not stray far from others. They do not seek alone time; they do not follow a butterfly to greener pastures; and they do not question their version of authority. Because of this (and because they have no sharp teeth or claws to defend themselves with), sheep are considered meek. We even define the word sheepish as lacking self-confidence. Yet, our education system “trains” us to be just like sheep. We are taught that certain things are facts, and that is just the way it is. We are typically not taught to question, to ask “why”, or to contradict what authority says is true. In fact, it is commonly stated that once you get to graduate school you have to “learn to think for yourself.” So, let me get this straight – we spend 20+ years learning to think like others before it is ubiquitously expected for us to think individually!?!?

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Reading Ellen Langer’s article “Mindful Learning” really hit this home for me. She discusses how we are taught the basics until the basics become second nature. We automatically drive on the right side of the road (in the US); we put forks on the left side of the plate when setting the table; and we don’t question “why.” Now, I am not suggesting that you got out tomorrow and see how you feel about driving on the left side of the road around here – some things we are taught should be followed. However, if you travel to England, you have to ditch your learned “second-nature” of driving on the right to be safe. I particularly liked the example about how we set the table. I had never thought about why we put the fork on the left side of the plate and the knife on the right. It really doesn’t make sense for the majority of the population, as right-handed folk typically hold their forks in their right hands and knives in the left. As a child, I was just taught that “this is how it is done,” and so, I accepted it.

As I got older, I was rewarded in school for blindly accepting what I was taught. I got A’s if I memorized what my teachers told me and did not do well when I didn’t. But what if the teachers are wrong (and having taught in the past, I can assure you that I was wrong sometimes)? Every day, research is showing us how things that were historically considered “common knowledge” are now incorrect (e.g., the world is flat; the Earth is the center of the universe; smoking doesn’t cause cancer). Every day, people prove that pushing the boundaries and not listening to what everyone told them furthers our understanding of the world. If everyone stayed a sheep, there would be no change. We need to start teaching children to think for themselves – it is as simple as saying “this COULD BE the answer to that question” vs “this IS the answer to that question”. In part, graduate school is so challenging because it is the first time we are truly and consistently evaluated on how well we can think for ourselves. Maybe, graduate school would be less daunting, less stressful, and less likely to cause or contribute to mental health concerns if we were “taught” how to think for ourselves.

I could go on and on about this topic. But I leave you with this: it’s good to be the “black” sheep (even though we are taught it is not). It’s even better to be a rainbow-colored lion. So go out there and ROAR!

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Let’s talk WITH our students – not AT them

How do we, as educators, compete with the increasing number of distractions around our students? How can we get students to learn when their attentions are split among several things or are elsewhere all together? The answers to these questions are simple: we can’t compete, and we can’t get students to learn when their heads are somewhere else. But, what we can do is learn to teach in a way that engages students, so that their minds don’t have time drift away. So, how do we do this?

In my opinion, to do this, we must move away from the dominant lecture-style teaching format. Cellphones, laptops, iPads, Apple watches, etc all provide students with constant access not only to their friends and family but to the entire world via the internet. There is no way that they can listen to our voices droning on and on while they read the latest tweets and status updates. Don’t get me wrong, lecturing has its place in the classroom and can be an important teaching tool. For example, Robert Talbert discusses how lectures can be used in a beneficial manner in “Four Things Lecture is Good For” (2012) by stating that lectures are bad for transferring information from teacher to student but are good for covering a lot of material. He also states that people who are good at lecturing incorporate big-picture views about the topic being lectured. That is – lectures should not just spew fact after fact about one topic – they need to explain why the facts are important and relate the topic being lectured to other topics.

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However, standing in front of a group of people talking AT them for an hour plus doesn’t accomplish what we want it to. Instead of talking AT our students we need to talk WITH them. We should not be the only voices being heard in the classroom. Our students should express their thoughts, their ideas, their opinions, and their experiences in class (when appropriate and asked for, of course). Everybody has a different set of knowledge and skills that make his/her/their voices have something unique to say. And just because we are educators, does not mean we should not be educated every day as well. Even if our students don’t know more about the topic being discussed than we do, they may ask a question that sparks an engaging conversation. Or they may have a comment that insights feelings in other students that prompt them to speak up. Even the statements of “I don’t understand” or “can someone explain this in a different way” are extremely valuable to us as teachers. This lets us know that we need to LEARN to express something in a different manner. As Marc Carnes states in “Setting Students’ Minds on Fire” (2011), students are dropping out of college not because they cannot afford it (though that does play some role) but because they are not interested! Why spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on “not learning” something you’re not interested in?

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We cannot (or should not) forbid technology in the classroom without major pushback (see “Laptops and Phones in the Classroom: Yea, Nay Or a Third Way?” by Anna Kamenetz,2018). So, we need to get students to engage in their classes so that they are not bored and want to read that “Bob just got his hair cut and is feeling fresh” more than listen to us talk. Just as we are taught as children to earn the respect of others, as teachers we need to earn the attention (which can translate into respect) from our students. Making them feel talked at and unheard won’t accomplish this. I realize I am not providing any answers here on how to engage students, particularly while incorporating technology – that is up to us to discuss WITH our teachers and peers!

Higher Education Isn’t Child’s Play

When we are little, we learn every day. And it is fun! We learn to count, talk, tie our shoes, feed ourselves, etc … and each and every time we learn something new, it is the best thing that has ever happened! As baby George demonstrated, we even had fun when we failed ~ because failing is also learning, and learning is fun! As we age, learning becomes more tedious, likely because we are judged based how “well” we learn. When we are little, every time we fall or say the alphabet incorrectly, it is cute, we are encouraged to try again by smiling faces, and learning is an adventure (as Kuh states). But later, grades, report cards, and awards make children think of learning as a chore. Something that they have to do in order to succeed. Unfortunately, most of the times when students “fail” at something in a class, there isn’t a smiling face and the reassurance of another chance to try again.

Many argue that we learn everyday even as adults. But how often do adults think that learning is fun? For example, if someone says “Hey – Erin! Let’s do something fun today! What would you like to do?” Even as someone who likes school, my standard responses to this question include “go see a movie,” “go bowling” or “go out to a nice restaurant.” Although I do thoroughly enjoy learning, it often seems to me that I am, and presumably the rest of us in academia are, the minority because learning goes from:

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In my opinion, using social media and blogging is a way to make learning fun again. It allows people to express themselves in often a less formal manner than typical “academic” writing. This, at least for me, takes off a lot of the stress involved with writing. Additionally, posting writing online via Facebook, blogging, Twitter etc encourages people to write well – as nobody wants to appear “stupid” to the masses. Overall, I believe that using tools such as blogging is increasingly important in today’s working world. It is not just for the youngest generation either – people of all ages are blogging and using social media to communicate with others. It will be really interesting to see how online networking continues to grow over the next decade and how it may bring fun back into education!


Two years ago when Heather Campbell was sorting through a box of books she came across a Bible from her grandmother. Tucked inside was an envelope carrying a yellowing letter and a poppy from Flanders Fields sent during the First World War.

"When I discovered that poppy in the Bible it was like — I don't know if this is going to sound silly — it was almost like a tap on the shoulder, a quiet yet powerful whisper from the past," Campbell said in a recent interview.

"I was really quite shocked."

That poppy was among the many flowers that her great-grandfather, lieutenant-colonel George Stephen Cantlie, sent home with letters to his family. Cantlie served as the first commander of the 42nd Battalion of the Royal Highlanders of Canada.

The flowers are now part of a touring exhibit called War Flowers that is on display at the Chateau Ramezay Historic Site and Museum of Montreal until early January. It will then move to Edmonton.

"This exhibit tells stories in a way that balances hope and love with reality, reaching across continents," said Campbell, who is a registered nurse in Toronto.

Cantlie enlisted when he was 48 years old in 1915. He fought in battles in Belgium and France.

He sent his wife and one of his five children pressed flowers from the battlefield with his letters.

In a recording shared by Campbell her late aunt Elspeth Angus, who was Cantlie's grand-daughter, describes how he came about his daily ritual.

"Every night, without fail while he was over there, he wrote two letters. During the day ... he would pick a flower no matter what it was, whether it was a dandelion or a rose, a forget-me-not, or a daisy, and put it between two pieces of paper that he had brought over with him and press it in a book to dry out so he could use it."

The letters to his baby daughter Celia were only a few words long.

In one dated July 4, 1916, he wrote: "Dear Wee Celia: With much love from Daddy. At the front Flanders. 1916." Folded inside is a twig with red poppies.

Another letter dated "Flanders, At the Front. 28.6.16," contains daisies. "Dear Wee Celia," it reads. "From the trenches and shell holes with much love from Daddy."

Campbell said the letters and flowers are "probably a translatable story into any time of war, any type of adversity."

"Maybe this is a universal message to everyone that people do survive the best they can," she said.

"They still can find beauty amidst things that are pretty horrific, and we should celebrate that and remember that. It's really symbolism, isn't it?"

Her mother described Cantlie as kind and gentle. He died aged 89 on Aug. 30, 1956, when Campbell was about two years old.

Campbell said her aunt recognized the historical significance of the letters she inherited and put the exhibition into motion.

Viveka Melki, the curator of War Flowers, said she was touched by the simplicity of the letters.

"This man sends these letters even in the darkest of times. He sends them to his daughter as a symbol of beauty amongst darkness," she said.

"He doesn't write an extensive letter, but he writes what's essential — I love you."

Flowers are fragile but they still grew in the middle of battlefields, said Melki.

"Flowers are a strange thing, aren't they? They almost have a sacred quality to them."

Nancy Holmes, associate professor of creative and critical studies at the University of British Columbia, said the flowers sent a message of hope.

"And if you send flowers to your family — dried flowers or pressed flowers — they are going to imagine that at least you are some place where there is flowers growing so it can't be that bad," she added.

Stacey Barker, a historian at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, said flowers are not what come to mind when someone thinks about the First World War.

"You think about mechanized warfare and the horrors of the frontline and death and killing and these flowers are really a stark juxtaposition," said Barker.

She said it was "quite poignant" that Cantlie found "these little bits of life on the battlefield."

"These little, beautiful, fragile things in the midst of absolute carnage and horror and devastation. He was able to find these living, beautiful, delicate things to send home."

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press


Mechanism of action of noradrenaline transporter

The action of noradrenaline at the synapse is terminated by its re-uptake across the pre-synaptic membrane. This is an energy dependent process. Sodium/potassium ATPases use energy from ATP hydrolysis to create a concentration gradient of ions across the pre-synaptic membrane that drives the opening of the transporter and co-transport of sodium and chloride ions and noradrenaline from the synaptic cleft. Potassium ions binding to the transporter enable it to return to the outward position. Release of the potassium ions into the synaptic cleft equilibrates the ionic gradient across the pre-synaptic membrane. The noradrenaline re-uptake transporter is then available to bind another noradrenaline molecule for re-uptake.

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I wanna make a Minecraft noteblock song, and don't know how long a beat is in seconds (4/4). I know that 10 redstone ticks are in one second. I can use repeaters as rests, but I need to set the delay of the repeaters, and I can't make rests if I don't know how long a beat is, so please help me.

Edit: By the way everytime you right-click a repeater, the delay increases by 1 redstone tick. The delay is set to 1 redstone tick (or 0.1 seconds) by default. If you right click it after the delay reaches four redstone ticks, it goes back to one redstone tick.

At 120 BPM (beats per minute), which is a typical pop song tempo, every beat lasts half a second. Divide 60 by the BPM to get the length of a beat at other tempos. You can use the Google metronome to try out tempos expressed in BPM.

if I understand your explanation correctly, you can set the timing of the notes and rests in tenths of a second. This is the tempo of the music in BPM for different lengths of beats (quarter notes):

Seconds  BPM

  0.3    200
  0.4    150
  0.5    120
  0.6    100
  0.7     85.71
  0.8     75
  0.9     66.66
  1.0     60

If you want to sub-divide the beats into shorter notes and rests, you will have to choose a tempo at which you can evenly divide the quarter notes; e.g. if you choose beats of 0.6 seconds at 100BPM, you can use eighth notes of 0.3 seconds and eighth note triplets of 0.2 seconds.

The length of a beat depends on tempo, and tempo depends on the style and feeling that's wanted. Or the other way around - whatever beat length you set, it sets a tempo and a feeling. If your beat is one second long, then you get 60 of them per minute, and the tempo is 60 beats per minute.

Try different tempos and see what you like.

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antinomy - транскрипция, произношение и перевод онлайн

Транскрипция и произношение слова "antinomy" в британском и американском вариантах. Подробный перевод и примеры.

antinomy / антиномия, противоречие, парадокс
имя существительное
contradiction, conflict, discrepancy, collision, gainsay, antinomy
paradox, antinomy
имя существительное
a contradiction between two beliefs or conclusions that are in themselves reasonable; a paradox.
Each contains an antinomy , a seeming contradiction, resolvable only by moving above the either/or into a third position that creates a broader frame.
In light of the examples of occult texts offered above, occult discourse is the result of a rhetorical antinomy between a belief and an action.
The antinomy we are considering arises from considering one side of the truth in a false abstraction from the other.
The second moment of our antinomy introduces the notion of a concept.
A constructional model may deal with some of these issues otherwise and arrive at different conclusions, which do not always imply the antinomy , in some cases.
Such an interpretation would avoid the antinomy between the terms since both would refer to a physical object.
What they knew-and modern Christians often miss-is that whenever our language shifts into the vocabulary of antinomy and contradiction, the words themselves no longer communicate.
This antinomy , perceived by reason and resolved by faith, is the standard paradox of Renaissance humanism, and we have met it in many shapes.
The antinomy is comprised of a seemingly contradictory stance among occultists and mystics that, on the one hand, regards spiritual truths as ineffable, but on the other, assumes that there is much to say about ineffability.


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Finland forgotten cash.”No cash” stores born

In Finland, less than 2 out of 10 people still use cash to pay. Merit of a national “recipe” started in the 70s. We have investigated to understand how the Finns arrived at this result. To the Nordic countries. Here…

Iceland, the top fashion travel 2019

Iceland is on top fashion travel in 2019. Northern Europe is increasingly the protagonist in the agency. From alternative destinations, almost niche, Scandinavia and the Baltic Republics have jumped in a few seasons among the most popular, almost fashionable destinations….

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Fishermen pull up net and find dead body

Corpse discovered by a fishermen in area known as ‘Smutthullett’ or ‘loophole’ in Barents Sea A group of fishermen pulled up a dead body in the trawl net of their ship while travelling across the Arctic Ocean, police said. The…


Shaping Visitor Behaviour

A few weeks ago I visited  casa de Julieta, the fictional home of Romeo and Juliet’s, Juliet. The house which is a massive tourist attraction provides an interesting example in the use of stagecraft as a means to create unique visitor experiences and shape visitor behaviour.

The outside walls of the house and the digital displays mounted on them are covered in graffiti, messages of love, hope and everything in between. Whilst it is strange to see interactive displays scrawled over with permanent marker, it made me question why visitors feel it is appropriate to deface the courtyard area. I guess its a mix of crowd mentality, and a lack of value. The entrance is covered in graffiti, so visitors feel that they are permitted to leave their mark. The court yard area is quite modern, as are the digital displays so visitors do not recognise their value and instead are caught up in the moment, guided by the graffiti from visitors who have been there before them.

The crowd mentality, instantly changes upon entering the actual house. A large sign tells visitors that it is forbidden to leave messages on the walls, strangely this sign is extremely effective. The house unlike the courtyard feels like a traditional museum, with guards watching your every move.

I was fascinated by the immediate and obvious change in visitor behaviour created by the two staged areas. In the courtyards visitors were boisterous, laughing, chatting, leaving love messages, writing on walls. In the house visitors were contemplative and engaged, they were quiet, they walked slowly and purposefully. Casa De Julieta demonstrates very clearly the power of stagecraft in shaping visitor behaviour in museums, galleries and heritage centres.

Text from Romeo and Juliet can be found all around the house

Visitors can send Juliet a love letter by e-mail

‘I felt like I won a Nobel prize!!’

letter of thanks courtesy of the Void Facebook page

1. VIEWING: The art in the gallery

‘The exhibitions are breathtaking… they are that good’

3. REFLECTING:  With juice and biscuits to finish

‘The juice was Orange and the biscuits were cookies’


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Clothes and Fashion

Essay Topic:

A woman speak with a man about fashion and clothes. The man says than the fashion is a invention from clothes factories. The woman says that the fashion is necessary to people feel well The man prefers to wear the same clothes rye day The woman feel better when she wear a beautiful suit, and in each situation you must wear a different clothes.

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The man things different clothes distinguish between poor people and rich people. I’m going to talk about clothes and fashion. There are two aspects which I want to highlight: the comfort and the appearance.

The comfort is the main purpose of dress because the human race began to wear clothes when went out from the hot Africa and spreader over the World and colonized cold lands. They used lots of materials to do their dresses but in the beginning with the only objective that warm the body. On the other hand clothes has a mission, it is to show the personality, the humor, the owner to a certain social status or collective. For instance the uniform of the police, the robe of lawyers, prosecutor or Judges, or the Army. These are very import to distinguish or discriminate this people from others.

When you are going to a party you must put on clothes different than you dress when you are working. The more happy you are the better clothed you wear. We used to wear dark clothes in funerals. If you had to facing in your work you should wear a suit. If you were a politician or a famous person you should dress up everyday well cause you could have a photo taken. I regretted very much don’t have known dress up in a very important situation when a was a young girl I had gone to a party but I didn’t liked to go there, I wearing a awful suit because my friends persuaded me to go there, and I didn’t want.

When the party began to be boring, I was thinking going home, suddenly a stunning boy appeared, he was wearing a denim trousers, a beautiful blue cotton shirt with a denim collar ND he was tall and handsome; he seemed very kind with his friends but I couldn’t to approach him because I was wearing a awful loadstone’s suit from the times of my mother, I felt very angry with me, I thought “it is impossible that this person look at me”.

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Clothes and Fashion. (2017, Dec 27). Retrieved December 6, 2019, from https://phdessay.com/clothes-and-fashion/.


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How one healthcare giant stays focused on application security

Robert Lemos, Freelance writer

With 3,000 applications under his management, Aetna's chief information security officer Jim Routh has a lot to deal with. The healthcare company uses considerable diversity in how it builds applications. Developers build two-thirds of the company's applications in Java, and much of the remainder is written in .NET and Ruby. And like many large companies, Aetna maintains a small number of critical applications written in COBOL, a language more than five decades old.

Keeping the developers of those diverse applications focused on security is tough, but it can result in significant cost savings, says Routh.

Ensuring ROI and compliance

"Our whole software security program is predicated on the objective of reducing the total cost of ownership of the application portfolio," Routh says. "We try to prevent as many defects as we can, and we try to fix as many bugs as well as we can, and that ends up creating a productivity gain of 20 to 50 percent."

As a covered entity, Aetna must secure any application that handles protected health information (PHI) to be compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In fact, all health insurance companies must do a risk analysis of their applications and infrastructure to make sure that PHI is handled in a secure way. Most security professionals consider technical vulnerability assessment—whether vulnerability scanning or penetration testing—a required part of risk analysis.

Letting developers lead the app sec charge

To cope, Routh delegates much of the responsibility for choosing a testing tool and the actual testing to the developers themselves. Through a mature secure development lifecycle (SDLC) process, the company’s coders test for security at multiple steps in the process of creating and updating applications.

Static tools (SAST, or static application security testing tools) are chosen by the developers to fit with their programming process, while dynamic tools (DAST, or dynamic application security testing tools) are used to assess infrastructure and running applications.

“We are not a big fan of running industrial-strength software security testing tools after the code is written, taking a day or two to compile the results, and then sending it back to the development teams,” he said. “If the development teams are doing a DevOps model, they are continuously doing builds.”

Routh’s team at Aetna sets requirements for types of testing. The use of static and dynamic analysis tools has led the team to start a pilot to evaluate interactive application security testing (IAST) tools.

Determining security risk levels

The company does not mandate what development environment programmers use, but it does require each application to be classified within a risk category: low, medium, or high. An electronic medical records system would have a high-risk classification, while an information site for patients may have a low-risk classification.

Then it requires teams responsible for these applications to abide by a set of controls for the risk level. To support developers, the security team has an approved set of tools that they use to secure their software. Open-source software is acceptable, as long as the development team is active and releases patches quickly.

“We have different affiliates that have different development teams, and some of them, for example, are exclusive Ruby development,” Routh says. “In those cases, we will pick a tool that is based on those environments and require that they use it.”

Final note: Take precautions with open source

Routh recommends that companies take stock of their portfolios of open source code as an important first step. Open-source libraries are frequently used by application developers without much thought, and they may not track notifications of vulnerabilities in those libraries. The result is that applications, which are otherwise secure, will have security weaknesses in the included code libraries and frameworks.

After getting a grip on common code dependencies, developers should adopt static analysis tools, then use dynamic scanning, and finally focus on locking down their mobile applications, says Routh.


FTC: Cambridge Analytica scandal will cost Facebook $5 billion

by Jake Doevan - -

The Federal Trade Commission issued Facebook a $5 billion fine over the Cambridge Analytica scandal

Facebook to pay $5 billion fine

Facebook is due to pay a record of $5 billion fine to the Federal Trade Commission after its privacy violations that emerged during the Cambridge Analytica scandal back in March 2018. The settlement was reached after the government officials voted 3-2 in favor of the agreement, which also followed the violation of the previous consent decree filed by the FTC back in 2011.

The settlement is now being revised by Department's civil division, although there is no news on what other ramifications will be enforced on the industry giant, and it is yet not known how long it will last. One thing is clear: the social network disclosed the personal data of 87 million users without permission and now need to pay up for it.

However, while being the largest FTC fine in history, $5 billion is a mere quarter of the yearly Facebook's profits (from $22 billion),[1] and many were rushing to criticize the decision.

Facebook has abused personal data of millions for years

Cambridge Analytica was a massive scandal that emerged back in March 2018, when Facebook announced that the personal data of 87 million users was leaked by the third-party with the help of an API called thisisyourdigitallife. It's author, Aleksandr Kogan from Cambridge University, offered money for people to participate in what seemed to be a personality test.

However, it was not revealed that the participants' friends lists would also be exposed, and their personal information was also harvested. This, seemingly one-of-the-many breaches, had much more significant ramifications, as it is believed that it influenced major political events, such as Trump's Presidential election and Brexit.[2]

After the news broke, Facebook was under the scrutiny, as Mark Zuckerberg had to answer to House Energy and Commerce Committee and an investigation by the FTC was launched. In response, Facebook promised to be good, changed the Privacy Policy, and implemented other changes.

However, this was just a tip of the iceberg, as the social media giant was caught storing user passwords in plain text, left unprotected AWS S3 buckets that exposed 540 million user data,[3] or, in another case, harvested 1.5 million emails from newly registered visitors.

Facebook wins?

Due to industry giant's continual privacy violations, many are wondering if the $5 billion fine is actually enough for a company like Facebook, as is just a part of its yearly profits, which is often compared to a slap on the writs. According to The Verge, which called the fine “an embarrassing joke,” the proposed fine was already saved up for by the company and managed to actually increase the stock prices instead:[4]

Here’s another way to say it: the biggest FTC fine in United States history increased Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth. <…> That’s actually the real problem here: fines and punishments are only effective when they provide negative consequences for bad behavior. But Facebook has done nothing but behave badly from inception, and it has only ever been slapped on the wrist by authority figures and rewarded by the market.

While the implemented fine is controversial and sparks theories whether Facebook will actually benefit from it, various parties, such as Center for Democracy & Technology, are fighting for privacy laws and trying to implement new rules, calling the US privacy regulation “broken.”

Nevertheless, CDT's CEO Nuala O'Connor states that the record fine should serve as an example to other companies that are willing to tamper with users' privacy, saying:[5]

This record-breaking fine highlights the importance of data stewardship in the digital age. The FTC has put all companies on notice that they must safeguard personal information

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Jake Doevan - Computer technology expert

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No. 476 - Education, income and wealth: persistence across generations in Italy

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by Luigi Cannari and Giovanni D'Alessio December 2018

The paper examines the intergenerational persistence of economic conditions in terms of education, income and wealth, and the importance of starting conditions in explaining success in Italy.

Italy is found to be among the countries exhibiting high intergenerational persistence of economic conditions; moreover, it has displayed an upward trend in recent years. The correlation between the years of education of younger generations and that of their parents is also higher than in the past. However, education today plays a smaller part than in previous decades in explaining the economic conditions of individuals, while the role of the social and family context is increasing.

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Joan of Arc

3:25 PM 14th December 2019 Queen's Film Theatre

Bruno Dumont's second film about the historical heroine, following Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc.

Adapted once again from the early 20th century theatrical works of writer and poet Charles Peguy, this second instalment follows the legend through her different battles against the English in 1429 on to her capture, trial and eventual execution only two years later.

This is an incredible but true saga. The entire film is peppered with lip-synched musical numbers composed by French rocker Christophe. Dumont was given a special mention by the jUn certain regard ury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Dir: Bruno Dumont, France, 2019, 138 mins, Unrated.


Promoting Rural Networking

Leader Plus Fellow LAGs working together are creating an informal network of incalculable power. All over Serbia and Europe, Leader Plus facilitates collaborations of Fellow LAGs so that they can learn from one another, share valuable knowledge and insights, and leave better equipped to advance their work.

As a result of EU-wide collaborations, Leader Plus is able to distill the most effective patterns and unify them into a "mosaic"— a synthesis of the commonalities and intersections of key principles that guide Fellows’ individual solutions. These overarching mosaics are then disseminated nationally, and form the basis of our programmatic initiatives specific to each field of work, such as rural youth development or the rural environment.

In this way, rural networking not only helps Fellows become more successful, but it also helps Leader Plus identify cutting edge trends and implement them more broadly.

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Australian Haydn Ensemble review: Admirable retelling of composer's 'joke'

Australian Haydn Ensemble review: Admirable retelling of composer's 'joke'

Australian Haydn Ensemble
Verbrugghen Hall, December 16

Erin Helyard played with 'graceful brilliance'.

Erin Helyard played with 'graceful brilliance'. Credit:Edwina Pickles

Haydn's Farewell Symphony is well known for the story behind its second finale, in which the musicians exit individually leaving only two violins at the end. This was a hint to Haydn's employer Nikolaus Esterhazy, that, much as they liked his flashy palace built on a swamp in Hungary, they would really like to get home to their families.

The Australian Haydn Ensemble updated Haydn's joke to reflect the Arcadian paradise of an Australian summer complete with surfboards and water skies. As guest director and fortepianist Erin Helyard pointed out, the work is more than a musical anecdote and the symphony as a whole is a significant document of the enlightenment.

Haydn scholar James Webster has argued that there is a strong unifying classical structure behind its progression from an unusually stormy first movement in the "remote" key of F sharp minor (symbolising at one level, the "remoteness" of the Esterhazy estate and more generally remoteness from a state of grace) through to its final resolution with just a pair of players in harmony (Skye McIntosh and Matthew Greco, appropriately symbolising the female/male harmony that Haydn was coyly dropping hints about).

Baring the occasional blemish arising from the unpredictability of period instruments, the Australian Haydn Ensemble played with admirable precision of ensemble and attack, shaping each theme without contrived mannerism, undue emphasis or bumptiousness.

The tone of disciplined precision had been established right from the start with J C Bach's Symphony in G minor, Opus 6, number 6 with carefully phrased, insistent expressive ideas in the first movement and a slow movement of portentous solemnity.

The finale was light if slightly less energised. Helyard pointed out that while composing the next work, the Piano Concerto in A, K. 414 in 1781, Mozart had learnt of his friend, J C Bach's death and as well as the oblique references of homage noted by scholars, the slow movement also made oblique references to the dragging theme in the work we had just heard.

The orchestra played with light transparency allowing Helyard's graceful brilliance on the fortepiano to project through the orchestral sound without force. The slow movement contrasted a warm sound from the orchestra with hushed expressive stillness from the soloist.

The program also included Mozart's Rondo for piano and orchestra, K. 386 often assumed to be a discarded finale for K. 414.

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The first photograph of quantum entanglement has been captured

One of the most enigmatic and fundamental phenomena of nature quantum entanglement has been portrayed for the first time.

quantum entanglement

The phenomenon was a headache for Albert Einstein himself, who characterized it as a “spooky action” because it violated the universe as we know it. It is called quantum entanglement and it happens when two particles separated from each other by a monstrous distance are able to communicate and interact without there being anything, no transmission channel, between the two. This means that if the state of one is altered, the other particle, perhaps millions of kilometers away, will respond in the same way.

Now, a team of physicists from the University of Glasgow has managed to obtain the first visual evidence of this puzzle of quantum mechanics. To do this they created a system that triggers a stream of interlaced photons from a quantum light source to non-conventional objects; which at the same time is reflected in liquid crystal materials that change phase when the photons pass through them.

quantum entanglement

“The image we have managed to capture is an elegant demonstration of a fundamental property of nature, observable for the first time in the form of an image,” explained Dr. Paul-Antoine Moreau, head of the research, in the published study.

quantum entanglement

“It’s an exciting result that could lead to new advances in the emerging field of quantum computing,” he concluded.

Source: BBC.

Science & Technology

Vaccination against smallpox to people in Africa. (Public domain)

The PHE said in a statement:

Source: Gov.ukIFL Science

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A cold virus can infect a pregnant woman’s fetus

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Science & Technology

How are ETs traveling through space and time today?

Traveling through space has always been a difficult task, as the distances between planets and even more between solar systems and galaxies are incomprehensible.

Science fiction makes things look easy using space warp engines and wormholes in space. There has been much speculation about the idea that there is a way to travel the vast distance of space with relative ease. Now it seems that no conventional science can support these ideas. Many men and women of science bet that this is possible.

Something that any viewer has seen on films several times is the crew of a spaceship needing to reach another planet or region of space deep within the universe. They enter some coordinates and voila , cross some tunnel-like structure, and reach a destination millions of light years from the point of departure.

But what was fantasy can now come true, as recent discoveries have found that galaxies can move between great distances and against predictions of basic cosmological models. The reason for this may make us rethink everything we think science knows about the universe.

The universe is full of many mysteries; It is an impressive kaleidoscope of patterns that science studies. These nebulae and star clusters continually reveal secrets about how they move in unexplained patterns.

Galaxies tend to form clusters that are limited by gravity, and continue to clump together until they become much larger superclusters. Earth is part of a cluster (galaxy) we call the Milky Way, which in turn is part of the Virgo supercluster that contains over 1,000 galaxies. These masses continually change into different shapes, merging with each other, and some are even pulled between competing galaxies. The movement indicates that there is possibly some massive invisible force at work.

Generally, galaxies have an effect on each other, exerting gravitational force that moves them in a way that is predictable. What scientists have found is that there are exceptions to this and they are theorizing that this may be related to the influence of “large scale” structures..

These “large-scale structures” are composed of hydrogen gas and dark matter and form a pattern of strings, sheets, filaments, and knots that connect galaxies. Imagine a giant cosmic web that connects all parts of the universe.

This web has enormous implications for the way we think the universe works, the movement of galaxies and the development of planets and suns, and basically every astronomical body has massive consequences on the habitability of a world and the possibility of life’s evolution.

So what makes these clusters move the way they do, and why are newfound structures a problem for current gravity-based theories?

First, it is contrary to current thinking that galaxies follow a fixed uniform pattern, which means that many of the patterns that have been shown and explanations of why a galaxy follows such a pattern will need to be reexamined.

The impact of these large structures will need to be added to the mix and they could actually change the accepted cosmic model. Science needs to collect much more data about structures in order to calculate this effect. A man who works on this is a scientist named Hutsemékers.

When asked about discovering this connection network, he said:

One of the great things about science is that you can create a model with thousands of dice, but if something doesn’t ‘stick’, it starts to break. This crack has to be sealed or it will tear down the entire house.

This new discovery will really stir up the established ideas. Theories about the universe, as the most important of events, “the big bang ” will need to be reworked.

Why is this so interesting?

Because it can help us understand, link ideas and theories about the existence of extraterrestrial life somewhere deep in space.

If we discover the web that connects the universe, an advanced alien race may also have learned about it. Could this be how ETs are traveling the universe today?

One thing that many skeptics point to as a way of refuting extraterrestrial visitation on the planet is that the vastness of space prevents any species from traveling between worlds. What if an advanced alien race had found a way to utilize this cosmic web?

Making a full circle to the beginning of this story, would they have some kind of drive, motor or technology that could allow access to the structure and then travel between galaxies?

A tunnel like a shortcut or a ‘wormhole’ could very well accommodate this need.

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190K Reads 10.9K Votes 28 Part Story
deangie By deangie Completed

Jane is the timid daughter of a Duke. She believes herself plain and the only beauty she possesses lies in her eyes.

William is a witty half french Duke in the making with a past he would rather hide than have known.

When their paths cross William throws Jane into his whirlwind of secrets and a past that is their present and might just become their future.

Shout-out to @DJStitches98 for my new book cover.... I am absolutely in love with it.


Deadly environmental pollution has become an existential risk that threatens the prospect not just for human immortality, but for the long-term survival of our species and a great many others. Here we will focus on the nuclear waste aspect of the problem and ways to mitigate it before there is a critical tipping point in our global ecosystem. As philosopher Nick Bostrom said in his 2001 paper titled “Existential Risks,” published in the Journal of Evolution and Technology, “Our future, and whether we will have a future at all, may well be determined by how we deal with these challenges.”1

Unlike many radioactive materials that degrade fairly rapidly, some will remain intensely poisonous for incredibly long periods. Plutonium-240 (Pu-240) has a half-life of 6,560 years. The half-life is the time it takes for radioactive decay to decrease by half. But decay does not occur at an even pace, and radioactive isotopes are dangerous for much longer – typically 10 to 20 times the length of their half-life. Pu-238 has an 88-year half-life, and is used for space vehicles despite the frequency of rocket failures. Any exploding rocket including such cargo spreads pollution far and wide. Pu-239 has a half-life of over 24,000 years, and will remain radioactive for about a half a million years. But the situation is more complicated because as Pu-239 decays it transforms to uranium-235 (U-235), which has a half life of 600 to 700 million years. Iodine-129 has a half-life of 16 million years. Pu-244 has a half-life of 80.8 million years. U-238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years.2

When taken into the body, isotopes of radioactive plutonium are not fully eliminated and tend to accumulate. They are deadly when sufficiently accumulated. Pu-239 was described by its co-discoverer, chemist Glenn Seaborg, as “fiendishly toxic.” In addition to terrible chemical toxicity, plutonium emits ionizing radiation. Pu-239 emits alpha, beta and gamma particles. Gamma radiation can penetrate the entire body and kill cells. Pu-239 has a robust resonance energy of 0.2 96 electron-volts that can badly damage DNA and produce birth defects that carry over generations.3 The body repairs tissues and DNA, but becomes overwhelmed when plutonium concentrates too heavily.

According to a 1975 article in New Scientist Magazine, “But if it is inhaled, 10 micrograms of plutonium-239 is likely to cause fatal lung cancer.”4 Experts estimate that Pu-239 is so noxious that only one pound would be enough to kill everyone on our planet if it were so evenly dispersed in the air that everyone inhaled it.5

Although it occurs in nature in exploding stars, almost all plutonium on Earth is man-made – the product of manufacturing nuclear weapons and energy in nuclear power plants. Of the different forms of nuclear products, deadly Pu-239 is very abundant because it is used to make nuclear weapons and is a by-product of energy production in nuclear reactors. As part of the U.S. weapons program (between 1944 and 1988), 114 tons of Pu-239 was produced in nuclear reactors at the Hanford Works facility, in Washington state, and at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.6 Large quantities of this u-239 remains at temporary storage facilities at these locations. Hanford stores about 50 million gallons of high-level radioactive nuclear and chemically hazardous wastes in underground storage tanks that were not designed for long-term storage. Roughly a third of these tanks have leaked, so that at least a million gallons of radioactive waste has reached the natural environment. Hanford is the most toxic site in the U.S., and among the most toxic places on Earth. Over 1,000 contaminated sites at Hanford have been identified. Groundwater aquifers are polluted for over 200 square miles beyond Hanford.

No less than nine pounds of Pu-239 is used to make a working nuclear bomb. As of 2015, a total of 15,695 nuclear weapons are stockpiled by nine countries.7 Some of these weapons are 35 years old, but have a shelf-life of only 25 years.8 These aging weapons are undergoing corrosion. oxidation and other detrimental changes, and they must constantly be maintained and upgraded to prevent them from becoming an immanent threat to life on Earth. They are primary war targets. The situation emphasizes the need for absolute global peace.

As of 2014, about 435 nuclear power plants have been built in 31 countries around the world.9 A great number of radioactive products, including Pu-239, are byproducts of U-235 fission occurring in the fuel rods of those plants with uranium reactors. In addition to being susceptible to natural disasters and accidents, these nuclear plants are all vulnerable to acts of war. They, too, emphasize the need for absolute global peace.

Many nuclear power plants are operating beyond their established service lives, and storing their nuclear wastes remains highly problematic. No method for the long-term storage of high-level nuclear products was available when industries began producing them to make commercial energy and weapons. Storage remains very precarious, and there is no realistic way to safeguard those that are long-lived. There are 93 different long-lived radioactive elements that are toxic for a minimum of 17,000 years, and the time scale extends for many billions of years of total decay time for some.10

The U.S. alone stores tens of thousands of tons of spent fuel containing Pu-239 and other highly radioactive materials from the various reactor cores. The quantity continues to increase worldwide as long as the nuclear plants continue to operate. About 1% of spent nuclear fuel is plutonium, and nuclear power provides about 10 percent of the world’s electricity. A uranium reactor will contain about a ton of plutonium. These figures provide a rough idea of the enormity of continual global radioactive waste accumulation. Aside from accidents like the Chernobyl disaster (which contaminated 40% of Europe), dangers include the potential for spontaneous fuel combustion and nuclear meltdown at pools containing spent fuel. The following quote from a National Research Council Panel report provides a rough idea of the growing tonnage build-up of plutonium from commercial nuclear reactors:

“New production of commercial reactor plutonium during the first half of the 1990s was about 70 MT [metric tons] per year.”11

At least four to five tons of Pu-239 are known to have been released into the environment during nuclear weapons testing.12 Much of the Pu-239 remains buried underground at the test sites. But some was released into the air during atmospheric tests, and some traveled for many miles by way of groundwater after underground tests. About two-thirds of the plutonium in the atmosphere winds up in the oceans, where it tends to sink to their bottoms and challenges sea life. The polluted sediment is disturbed and redistributed by underwater tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes and enormous landslides.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):

The EPA adds:

“People may inhale plutonium as a contaminant in dust. It can also be ingested with food or water. Most people have extremely low ingestion and inhalation of plutonium.”

Given that humans retain plutonium, the longer we live the more of it our bodies can accumulate. Although exposure can vary widely because of the way plutonium becomes distributed in the environment, it is has already reached high enough levels globally to cause serious concern: According to a report from the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop of the year 2000, titled High-Sensitive Determinations of Pu and Am Content in Human Tissues:

“Now plutonium of both industrial and weapon origin is widely spread all over the world and included in the soil cycle, water cycle and the food chain, the end point of which is a human body….Now we warn about the serious hazard of dangerous accumulation of plutonium and americium in human body, especially in liver and bones….As it has been established recently, plutonium in its tetravalent state (TV+) is accumulated in human body during the whole life…”14

Since that report was published, additional plutonium isotopes have been added to our body burden. High levels of Pu-239 were released after the magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011 triggered the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant. The initial venting from containment vessels into the atmosphere, the meltdown (and melt through) of three of the facility’s nuclear reactor cores, and the continual release of contaminated coolant water into the Pacific Ocean are parts and parcels of the most lethal nuclear accident to date.

After the radioactive plume from Fukuskima began circulating the Earth every 40 days or so (depositing over 1,000 different types of toxic substances on land and in water with each pass), plutonium was measured in the Pacific Ocean and its sea life, and in many U.S. cities and far beyond. A news headline from 2011 reads, “Report: 76 trillion becquerels of Plutonium-239 released from Fukushima — 23,000 times higher than previously announced.”15 The initial radioactive plume was discharged into both the air and water, and the water portion of the plume is expected to reach the U.S. coast along ocean currents by 2017. Smaller plumes continue to be generated as radioactive water is poured directly into the ocean each day. It remains to be seen how much all of this will affect marine life and the food chain along the U.S. west coast. California produces most of the fruits and vegetables for the rest of the country. The rule of thumb is that small particulates move along ocean currents, and large particulates sink to the marine sediments.

Since the accident, 300 to 400 tons of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear complex have been pouring into the ocean every day 16 In 2014, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), in charge of the cleanup operation, began filtering 62 (out of over 1,000) radioactive isotopes from the millions of gallons going into the sea – and creating water plume after plume crossing the ocean.17 The myriad of resulting toxic water filters, which deteriorate due to radiation exposure, will require permanent storage.

The public receives conflicting information about whether plutonium will be brought under control. A 2014 headline reads, “Tepco NOT to analyze Plutonium or Uranium in bypass water before discharging to the Pacific.”18 Another report says that plutonium is among the treated radioactive contaminants.19 Another says that the volume or output of the radioactive materials that are filtered out will be reduced by 90%.20 This can suggest that each day 90% less plutonium and certain other harmful radioactive toxins will flow into the sea than before.

A 2015 report says, “Expert: “It’s completely unsafe… impossible to remove 100s of radioactive materials” – 1,200 radionuclides, only 62 reduced.” “It’s impossible for them to remove all those hundreds of radioactive materials. They know how to remove about 62 of them, but there’s other ones that they cannot.”21

A headline from 2015 reads: “Experts: Plutonium levels 10,000,000 times normal in water below Fukushima reactors – Plutonium hit record high off coast in 2014 – “Has been transported relatively long distances” – Every sample taken from rivers flowing into Pacific had Pu-239, Pu-240, Pu-241,and Pu-242 from plant.” “…the amount of Pu isotopes directly released into the marine environment remains unknown.” The total oceanic burden is difficult to accurately estimate by taking surface or near-surface samples from flowing ocean water.22

Since it is presently impossible to know how much plutonium has or will be released into the ocean, and since so many conflicting opinions appear in the news, we can make rough estimates based on how much was in the reactor cores in the first place. According to nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen: “A ton of plutonium was in each Fukushima reactor.”23 Three 100-ton reactor cores melted down, and a fourth is badly damaged. Of the three melted reactors, after they underwent meltdown nuclear fuel penetrated their containment vessels and melted into the ground below (a process termed ‘melt through’). Then an unprecedented event (called ‘melt out’) occurred, so that the locations of the reactor cores is unknown.

Some experts think that the mysterious highly radioactive black particulate deposited all over Fukushima, Tokyo and other parts of Japan includes the remnants of these lost cores. In theory, during the meltdowns the cores exploded with sufficient force to scatter as the black particulate (containing dangerous hot particles and other radioactive materials). This black substance matches, as best as can be determined, with components of core fuel and may include vaporized cores.24 Pu-239 and many other types of ionizing radiation are produced in reactor cores. The black particulate gradually breaks down into smaller particles, soaks into the ground and is scattered into the wind and water.

The cleanup at Fukushima is expected to take four decades, and there is no telling how far into the future highly-contaminated water will continue to pour into the ocean. It will only be stopped under certain conditions: There must be a means of preventing groundwater from entering the reactor buildings (through the basements and failed seals), so that the contaminated coolant water stops blending with the freshwater flowing in and out of the structures. The other condition is that the reactor buildings finally sufficiently cool so that coolant water is no longer required. Four reactor buildings are being cooled by water to prevent dangerous heat build-up that can cause another explosion. So, water is constantly being poured onto the premises and becomes laced with radioactive materials, and then it is partially filtered and put directly into the ocean.

So far, humans cannot go near the melted Fukushima reactors for an hour without being exposed to lethal amounts of radiation poisoning. Robots are the only alternative for performing work. But high-level radiation quickly causes electronics components to malfunction and fail within minutes. In April of 2015, the second robot developed to work within a damaged reactor was abandoned after it failed.25 A new robotic attempt is being planned for next year.

The potential for typhoons, flash floods, earthquakes and tsunamis place the damaged reactor buildings at Fukushima in further jeopardy. At least one tsunami will typically hit some part of Japan every year, which is far lower than the country’s frequency of earthquakes.

Even if plutonium is brought under better control, the other nuclear contaminants being released from Fukushima, the on-going low level radioactive releases permitted around the world at uranium mines and mills, fuel fabrication plants, storage pools, casks, and trenches, etc. accumulate in the environment. Too much body burden brings on birth defects in newborns. Many Iraqi children born after depleted uranium weaponry was used during the Gulf War suffer hideous deformities. Irresponsible radioactive waste disposal is suspected of causing the significant cancer rise in southern Italy.

Five reactors in the U.S. are known to be built in earthquake zones, too.26 New earthquake faults that threaten Hanford have been discovered since it was built. In 2015, Michigan quakes initially left scientists puzzled. The situation resulted in the identification of a previously unconfirmed earthquake fault line.27 Earthquake frequency has increased dramatically in the U.S. over the past few decades, and the frequency rate has continued to increase. Tornadoes are also a threat to the safety of nuclear plants, and the Fermi 2 reactor, located between Detroit and Toledo, experienced a near miss when a tornado ran directly through two of its cooling towers in 2014.

Some physicists assert that humanity will always be plagued by the consequences of the Fukushima disaster.28 Scientists who study the ocean floor report a huge spike in unexplained sea life die-offs.29 Many thousands of tons of radioactive materials have been dumped into the Atlantic, too. The oceans are getting warmer and steadily more acidic, and oxygen is depleting at an increased pace. The entire oceanic ecosystem is threatened by over 70,000 types of pollution, and human CO2 emissions (mostly from fossil fuel combustion, transportation and industrial processes) are usually considered largely to blame.30 There are over 500 large oceanic dead zones, areas in which the oxygen concentration is so low that sea life suffocates. Science cannot predict the ultimate consequences of the changes in our oceans, but mass extinction of ocean life is predicted.31 No wonder some news sources are sounding alarm bells about the potential death of the Pacific Ocean.32 Oceans play a leading role in Earth’s overall climate, and they heavily impact the weather patterns on land. Humankind is not presently set up to endure drastic changes in climate or weather.

Solutions for Trying to Militate the Problems:

Aside from reducing greenhouse gases and balancing their levels in the atmosphere, fortifying our health as much as possible, creating better filtration systems that can gradually capture environmental pollutants of all kinds, and reducing and eliminating the release of dangerous pollutants, a number of less obvious steps can be taken to mitigate the problems described:

Diamond Film Microcircuitry:
Robots will be required to contend with the Fukushima crisis. At the very least, they should be able to seal the buildings to stop the contaminated water leakage. But they are not capable of doing such manual work because their electronics fry in minutes when exposed to the intense hard radiation. In previous articles, I have explained the superiority of electronics and computerized robotics based on Diamond Film Microcircuitry (DMF), made with single crystal diamond film. The links below lead to articles about DMF, including how it is made and why it is superior to conventional electronics and robotics:

In addition to the performance of DMF discussed in the above-linked articles, synthetic diamond is used to make corrosion-hard particle radiation detectors. Diamond will tolerate being directly immersed in Pu-239 diluted in concentrated nitric acid, and it will reliably measure alpha activity.

While 2015 predictions of radiation emissions from Fukushima are not yet available, measurements from 2011 showed a release of 3696 megarads per week:33 Whereas, diamonds routinely take exposures of up to 8000 megarads during color enhancement treatments. During color enhancement, diamonds are subjected to proton bombardment in cyclotrons. The gemstone will tolerate a tremendous amount of high-energy particle radiation of various types, too. Diamonds are subjected to neutron bombardment in nuclear reactors. They are exposed to high electron bombardment by Van de Graaff generators. These very high-energy processes are what it takes to knock carbon atoms out of place in a diamond’s crystal lattice. Diamonds remain in high energy fields for 1,000 hours or more during color enhancement. Diamond naturally acts as a heat spreader, too, and so can be used to help stabilize temperatures in reactors and cool cores faster. Given diamond’s proven properties, there is every reason to expect high performance from robots, computers and other electronic devices made of DMF.

DMF contains three-dimensional internal channels made of graphite, created to carry electricity through devices (such as sensors, robotics, computers, etc.). Graphite shows no degradation when exposed to 1,000 megarads (compare the 22 megrads per hour emitted in Fukushima’s Reactor 2), and in DMF graphite is protected by diamond that can stand even higher radiation levels. Forms of graphite are used in the first wall of the UK’s Joint European Torus, a leading fusion experiment facility. Graphite has ideal thermal and electrical properties. It has an even higher melting point than diamond (the latter of which is 6,420 °F when subjected to high pressure). The use of DMF would be a wise choice for developing robotics that can operate within high-level hard radiation environments.

Geopolymerized Rock:
Ultimately, the Fukushima buildings will be entombed like the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded in 1986. But despite being entombed in 5,000 tons of concrete, Chernobyl has continuously leaked radioactive materials into the environment. These materials are pulled from local soil by trees and other plants through their root systems. This is happening because the Chernobyl reactor is entombed in ordinary Portland cement based concrete, which is inadequate for keeping toxins immobilized. The entombment structure must be frequently repaired to protect the environment.

All of the hundreds of nuclear reactors around the world must ultimately be either dismantled (a very expensive and dangerous process) or else safely entombed after they reach the end of their service lives. Successful remediation that does not leak requires that the entombment structures tolerate freeze thaw cycles and the hydrothermal conditions created when groundwater from rain, snow or floodwaters reaches hot reactors. Every reactor that is shut down to an inactive state continues to generate a significant amount of residual heat. When water comes into contact with the hot reactors, very hot water is produced that will degrade a Portland cement concrete entombment. The result of such containment is either very prolonged environmental contamination or else very prolonged, expensive maintenance.

Geopolymerized rock (geopolymeric concrete) tolerates both hydrothermal conditions and freeze thaw cycles. It is made purely of minerals (which have a high heat tolerance) that are molecularly bound, without using heat or intense presume, to form rock-concrete. The geopolymeric binder is equivalent to silicates that make up over 55% of the Earth’s crust. The Battelle Institute, in Germany, tested geopolymerization for the European high-level nuclear waste classification. The Battelle researchers determined geopolymerization to be a “valuable alternative” to present day vitrification technologies.34 Geopolymers have excellent engineering properties. It would be wise for countries with nuclear reactors to test geopolymers for their particular radioactive waste needs, especially entombment.

Geopolymers and DMF work well together, and are the key components of the GEO-DMF System. A well-made geopolymer entombment can be expected to endure for thousands of years, during which time it would not be degraded by acid rain, salt or other environmental corrosives. DMF sensors and other devices can be built into reactor entombments to monitor internal conditions and maintenance needs. Although not a total solution to the nuclear waste problems plaguing our planet, rock-solid geopolymeric containment coupled with a dependable, automated and enduring monitoring system would be a vast improvement over the present means of securing nuclear wastes and weapons arsenals.

Both geopolymers and synthetic diamond film DMF are impervious to water, which means that flooded buildings made with geopolymeric building blocks and DMF electronics will be as good as new when they dry out. DMF electronics (three-dimensional graphite zones) are encased within the synthetic diamond film. Geopolymerized rock (rock aggregates bound by a geopolymeric binder) can be molded into multi-ton megalithic building blocks that will allow structures to withstand the strongest known hurricane winds. The GEO-DMF System can provide for fireproof, weatherproof housing and other buildings, and help fortify coastal cities against sea level rise. Wise utilization of these technologies would allow humankind to better deal with existential and more localized risks while ushering in mature phases of the coming technological revolution.

Margaret Morris
GEO-DMF System
Contact: matmargaretmorrisbooksdotcom

3. Management and Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium:: Reactor-Related Options Panel on Reactor-Related Options for the Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium, National Research Council, Policy and Global Affairs, Office of International Affairs, National Academies Press, Jul 6 (1995), page 351.

4. New Scientist Magazine, Vol. 65, No. 941, Mar 20, 1975, p. 725.

5. Tim Janakos, Collected Writings From Soka University of America, Second American Renaissance Press, Escondido, 2011, p. 54.

6. Michael L. McKinney (ed.), Outlooks: Readings for Environmental Literacy, Second Edition, Jones & Bartlett Learning, London, etc., 2004, p. 89.

9. John Moore, Conrad Stanitski, Chemistry: The Molecular Science, Fifth Edition, Cengage Learning, 2014, Stamford, CT, p. 807.

11. Panel on Reactor-Related Options for the Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium, Office of International Affairs, Policy and Global Affairs, National Research Council, Management and Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium: Reactor-Related Options, National Academies Press, 1995, Page 3, note 1.

14. Yu.T. Chuburkov et al., High-Sensitive Dereminations of Pu and Am Content in Human Tissues, in RadionuKluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (2001), p. 72.

16. Presented by Ecoshock radio, with nuclear engineer Anrie Gundersen as a speaker: ttps://

24. )

25. Wall Street Journal Article:

34. Battelle Institut, Germany. Ceramic Transactions, Vol. 36, “Microwaves: Theory and Application in Materials Processing II” (1993), 61–72, Presented at the International Symposium on Microwave Processing, the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, held in Cincinnati, April 19–22, 1993. Also see A. D. Chervonnyi and N. A. Chervonnaya, “Geopolymeric Agent for Immobilization of Radioactive Ashes after Biomass Burning” Radiochemistry, Vol. 45, Number 2, March (2003), 182-188. The abstract reads, “Solidification of low-level radioactive wastes obtained after biomass burning was studied. Two solidification modes using Portland cement and geopolymeric binder were tested experimentally. The strength at various hardening times, compacting efficiency, and leaching rate of the resulting monolithic concretes were analyzed. The compacting efficiency in concretes prepared by two different modes is similar. At the same time, geopolymeric binder is solidified in significantly shorter period and its compression strength is several times higher, but its main advantage is chemical immobilization of strontium cations. The leaching rate under the static conditions after 28-day hardening is nearly 10- 6 g cm- 2 day- 1. Thus, substitution of geopolymerization of the clay component (in general case, aluminosilicate material) for common solidification of low-level wastes using Portland cement is economically promising due to significant energy and resource saving. The geosynthesis can be easily realized as an environmentally safe process, yielding no liquid waste and involving no high-temperature stages with radioactive

Image credit:
U.S. Department of Energy:


Green Mountain National Forest in Danger

Unless people get active to stop the plan, thousands of acres of Green Mountain National Forest that are about 10 miles from Brattleboro will probably be clearcut logged soon. “They are coming hard with the chainsaws to Green Mountain National Forest,” Chris Matera told the Valley Post. “What a sorry site it will be to look down from the top of Mount Snow and see clearcuts instead of that beautiful intact forest we see now.” A photo of that view is at:

Matera lives in Northampton and was the main subject of a New York Times article about logging. To get an idea of what this logging will look like, see “before and after” photos that Matera took last year in New Hampshire at:

Activists are focusing on stopping logging on publicly owned land. Banning clearcut logging, or all logging, there would result in logging companies buying more land, which in turn would keep that land from being converted to vacation houses, roads, parking lots, and strip malls.

To get involved, contact Matera by e-mail at or by phone at (413) 341-3878.

In other news from the Valley, free bus rides are available from Springfield to the statehouse in Boston for a May 8 rally for a $15 an hour minimum wage. The rally is at 1 p.m. For more information contact the local chapter of Jobs With Justice via

In other news from the Valley, hundreds of people attended a rally for gun control in Springfield, on April 27. The event was organized by a group that has a web site at

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